The Language of Madness
by YoungAndBored
Summary: What would you do if your father kidnapped you and put you in a fake mental hospital so he could experiment on you? And what about when two girls just like you come along and you escape? And what if you fall in love? FAX. T just because.
1. Prologue

**I don't own anything.**

**The Language of Madness**

_Prologue ~ 13 Years Ago_

**3****rd ****Person POV**

"Where are we going, Daddy?" The three year old yawned.

"To a very special place, Sweetheart, but you have to be very quiet so that Mommy and Baby Ella don't wake up." The man told her.

"O-tay, Daddy!" She replied, sleepily, as they walked outside into the darkness.

They drove away and as they left the neighborhood, the child was already sleeping softly in her car-seat. The man smiled darkly as his plan unfolded smoother than he had expected. After only a half-hour of driving, the car pulled into the parking lot of a big white building and parked next to the new sign that read:

"**Itex Institution for the Mentally Unfit"**

The man woke his daughter, picked her up and out of the car, and gave her the little suitcase he had packed full of her clothes. She grabbed it and followed her father, pulling it behind her. He led her into the building, through the sliding doors, and up to the front desk where another man was waiting.

"Ter Borcht," he greeted.

"Jeb," he nodded to the man. "I trust everything went as planned?"

"Better." He said.

"Good. You know what to do."

"Yes, sir."

He looked sympathetically down at his daughter, "Come on, Honey, I'll show you your new room."

"But, Daddy, what 'bout my old room?" She asked, confusion filling her tired voice.

"It'll be okay, Honey, just follow me."

She did what she was told and went with him as he led her through a labyrinth of halls and doors. They finally reached the longest hallway she had seen so far, with many small, gray doors lining both sides of it. Her father walked up to one and she followed closely.

He opened it and ushered her in, saying, "This is your new room, Honey."

She looked around with a grimace at the small white bed in one corner and the gray desk in the other.

"I don't wanna live here, Daddy!" She cried, suddenly very scared, but the door had already closed behind him and she heard the clicking of the lock.

"Daddy? Daddy, I wanna go home! Daddy!" She screamed, wet tears beginning to slide down her cheeks. She ran over to the hard bed and buried her face in the pillow, small sobs escaping from her throat.

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

Valencia Martinez rolled over as the sun streamed into her bedroom and noticed the emptiness of her bed and saw that her husband wasn't there. She didn't think anything of it until fifteen minutes had passed and he still hadn't returned. She got up slowly, put her slippers on, and walked downstairs into the kitchen.

"Jeb?" She called. No answer.

"Jeb?" She tried again, louder.

"Jeb?" No answer. She looked around for a note he may have left her and found nothing. She went into her youngest daughter's room and found only the sleeping two year-old. Then, she went into her three year-olds room and saw the deflated sheets and abandoned blankets. She looked under the bed, anticipating a "Boo!" or careless laughter, but found nothing. Nothing. Not even the suitcase she had bought last summer before their vacation to Disney World.

"Max?" She yelled, frantically.

"MAX!"

"**MAX!"**


	2. The Arrival

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, sadly. It's all JP.**

_TLM ~ Chapter 1 – The Arrival_

**~Max POV~**

"You've got to be kidding me." I said to myself as I looked around the bright room.

All of the tables had at least someone sitting at them, so that meant I actually had to sit _with_ another person as I ate breakfast. It's not like I hate being around other people so much that I can't even sit with them, but all of these people were bonkers. Like, legitimately insane.

Confused? Let me elaborate.

When I was three, my father, Jeb, kidnapped me from my mom and baby sister and took me to a mental hospital.

Sorry, a _fake _mental hospital. He and another crazed scientist bought an old, rundown building in the middle of town and turned it into a lab where they could experiment on people. Yeah, _living, breathing _human beings like me. Well, actually, I'm not really completely human anymore. They gave me WINGS. Real, feathery wings. As in, I could _fly. _Sicko. He's the only one who actually _belongs_ here.

The only problem with their plan was that they had to let actual insane people into the asylum, because the government and everybody else thought that it was a _real_ hospital.

As I searched the cafeteria for a place to sit, I noticed two girls that I had never seen before. We got new patients all the time, but these two didn't look psycho at all.

They both looked around sixteen, which is my age. One had dark skin, brown eyes, and brown, very curly, frizzy hair. I could tell she was really tall and thin.

The other girl had curly blonde hair and innocent blue eyes. She was also super skinny, but not as tall.

Also, they both looked mad. Really, really mad. So, I went to sit with them.

When I sat down, they both looked up at me but then turned their gazes down again. Which is reasonable and probably what I would've done, because as far as they know, I'm a lunatic.

"Hey." I said, and they mumbled something in return.

"I'm Max."

"Angel." Blondie replied, quietly.

"My name's Monique, but you can call me Nudge." The other one said.

"You two don't look like you belong here." I told them.

"We don't." Blon- sorry, _Angel_ stated, firmly.

"Neither do I." I said back.

"Then why are you here?" Nudge asked, biting into a piece of bacon.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Well, we don't exactly know _why_ we're here, just that we shouldn't be. Really early this morning, a man came to our door, he handed our mother something, grabbed our wrists and pulled us into his car, and took us here. I _know_ we aren't crazy."

"Did he have light brown hair, glasses, and a white coat?" I asked them, feeling hatred course through my body.

"Yeah," Nudge said, "do you know him?"

"Sadly." I said, shaking my head in disgust. "He's my father, Jeb. He kidnapped me from my mom when I was three and I've been here ever since."

They pondered that, and then Angel spoke. "So why are we here?"

"Well, he probably paid your mom so he could take you." I said, an idea of what he had planned forming in my head.

"Why would he do that?"

I never got to answer because just as she finished asking the question, the guards came in, signaling the end of breakfast. This was usually when they would escort the patients back to their rooms and take me into the labs and begin prodding me with needles and running tests. I frowned.

"I think you're about to find out." I whispered as the guards started walking towards us, an evil smile on their faces.

**What did you think?**

**Please review and tell me your thoughts!**

**I really appreciate you reading it and I want you to enjoy it, so please tell me what you think I need to fix! Or just tell me it was bad or good or whatever, but please review!**

**And thank you so much to all that have reviewed so far!**

**It warms my heart ;)**

**~YAB**


	3. The Plan

**I don't own anything.**

_TLM ~ Chapter 2 – The Plan – One Month Later_

**~Max POV~**

Angel and Nudge didn't show up for lunch today, and it's really freaking me out. I haven't seen them since breakfast. After the guards came for us and brought us to the labs, they were taken into separate rooms and haven't come out yet. I'm not one to worry about others, but Nudge, Angel, and I had grown close in the month that they've been here. They liked to tell me what living in the real world was like and what their lives were like before they came here and I would tell them everything I remember from my old life, not like I had much to remember though, I was only three.

Anyway, I was going to find out what was happening in there.

So, when the guards came to take us all back to our rooms, I created an issue with Bryan, one of the guards.

"But I _reeeeaaally _have to go!" I whined.

"No, Miss Ride, you had the opportunity to use the lavatory at your lunch break. You are going back to your room now and you'll have to wait until dinner." He said, agitatedly.

"I can't wait that long, I have to go now!"

"Maximum, calm down, you will have to wait-"

"No! NOW!"

He sighed. "Fine, Miss Ride, but be quick!"

I mentally smiled, things were working perfectly _and_ I got to make someone angry.

He led me down the hallway and past the labs. I almost forgot what I was doing and ran to the door right then, but I stopped myself.

When we got to the bathrooms he ushered me towards the door.

"Go in and hurry up!"

I walked in, feeling relieved that things were working out. I leaned against the bathroom door and counted to thirty. _Now, he should've let down his guard enough for me to take him by surprise, _I thought. I turned on the sink and let the water run. Then, I approached the door and peeked out as carefully as I could. I saw Bryan leaning against the wall casually. I made my move.

I ran out the door and cornered him against the wall.

"Maximum? What - " But I guess we'll never know what Bryan meant to say because I punched him in the gut and as he bent over, clutching his stomach, I kneed him in the head and he fell over, unconscious. I yanked the identification card and pass key from around his neck and ran down the hallway.

But I guess we'll never know what _I _was going to do because as turned the corner and neared the labs, two more security guards, Todd and Bill, stopped me, took the card from my hands, and held me by my arms. I tried to take them down, but there were two of them and they were much stronger and smarter than Bryan. No offense, Bryan.

They started talking on their communication–thingies, but I couldn't understand them with all their codes and stuff. When they were done with their conversations were over, they started dragging me through the hallway.

"Wrong way," I told them, "My room is the other way."

"You're not going to your room, Girly." Todd said with an dark grin. What a creep.

They walked me down hallways I had never seen in my thirteen years here. Not that I had ever really had that much time to roam.

After what felt like an eternity of walking, we came to a steel door with quite a few locks on it and a sign that read:

**Solitary Confinement**

I had no idea what that meant, but I knew it was bad. Todd and Bill practically threw me into the shadowed and lightless room.

"This should teach you not to try something like that again." Todd said, and as he shut the door, added "Girly."

As it turns out, solitary confinement is a lot worse than I thought it would be, and trust me, I was expecting pretty bad.

I was in a completely dark room, there were no windows and even the spaces in between the door and the wall and floor had been blocked off. In the room there was a small bed with a metal frame and an even harder and lumpier bed than the one in my room. There was a small toilet against the wall opposite the bed.

The room was so small that you couldn't even take two steps into it without hitting the bed or walking into the toilet.

It also stunk. Really bad.

I've been in here for five days, just sitting in the darkness. And they only give me one repulsive bowl of mush for me to eat every two days. This had to be against the law. Well, then again, pretty much the whole place was against the law, so I don't think they really cared.

It was bad.

After ten days in Solitary Confinement, they finally let me out. It felt so good to breathe clean air again, the guards who came to get me, Frank and Pierre, must've thought I actually _was _insane because of how I was breathing. I felt like a fish, and probably looked like one too.

When I got back to my room, it was late and I was exhausted so I went to bed and slept past breakfast. When I realized _that _part I was _very_ mad so I sat at my little gray desk and swore at myself until lunch.

Not only because I'm hungry, because I _am_ starving, but because I realized Angel and Nudge could've been at breakfast and I missed them and I was still freaked out about that.

When it was time for lunch, Todd came to get me. Gross. I was still ecstatic on the inside, though. I practically ran to the cafeteria and when I saw Angel and Nudge sitting at our usual table, I think I squealed. Pause. Rewind. Delete. I do NOT squeal.

Angel and Nudge squealed, though. I didn't. I sat down without getting my food.

"MAX! We heard what happened! Tell us EVERYTHING!" Nudge screamed.

"Me? What happened to you guys? You weren't at lunch and I got all freaked out and tried to find you but they caught me and took me to Solitary and it was gross and dark but all I could think about was what happened to you, so tell me!" Oh great. Now I sound like Nudge.

"Jeez, Max, calm down!" Angel told me. "We're fine, but they did do something to us." She looked really upset as she said this.

"I'll tell you," Nudge interrupted, "They gave us wings! WINGS! Can you imagine that? It hurt so bad that couldn't move for two days! After that, they taught us how to fly! Me, flying! _I_ can't even believe it! The flying part is amazing though, it was totally worth the pain to even fly with my own wings for just a minute! I psdkog sdf jdkj ksdkhgd" Angel put her hand over Nudge's mouth, interrupting the endless monologue.

It took me a while to grasp what Nudge had just said.

"That UGH! I can't believe he would do that to you!"

"What are you talking about, Max?" Angel asked, her hand still tightly pressed against Nudge's face.

I hesitated. "Well, when I was four, Jeb did the same thing to me. I hated him so much then, but now, how can someone do that to _people_?" Angel dropped her hand.

"Max, why didn't you tell us?" Nudge asked, looking a little hurt.

"Well, I didn't want you guys to think I was freak. You guys are the only friends I have and have ever had." Wow, that was deep. For me, at least, I'm not big on emotion.

"Aww, Max, we could never think that. You're our friend, too, and now we can all be freaks together!" Nudge chirped, all the sadness gone.

"Whatever you say, Nudge." Angel told her, and she just smiled.

"Guys, I think we need to get out of here." I declared.

"Yeah, lunch is almost over." Nudge said back.

"No, I mean like actually get out of here, as in escape."

"Oh. How would we do that? Do you know how well secured this place is? After what they did to you for looking for us, they'd probably kill us for trying to escape." Angel said.

"Actually, I have a plan."

"You do?" Nudge asked, curiously.

"I was sitting in darkness for ten days! I didn't sit there and think about how I would wear my hair for 240 hours!"

"Oh. Sorry. What is it?"

Guess I won't get to eat for a while.

**Hey Guys! Sorry for the long wait, we just started school and I've been really busy!**

**I hope you liked it, please tell me what you think! I really want to know your thoughts! (Not in a creepy way….)**

**Thank you to all that have reviewed so far! It means a lot to that you took the time to read it!**

**~YAB**


	4. Pernicious

**I own nothing.**

_TLM - Chapter 3 - Pernicious_

**~ 3****rd**** Person POV ~**

"Do you have it?" Jeb Batchelder asked his employee, eagerly.

"Yeah, Boss. Here it is." He replied as he handed the package over. "So, umm, what is it?"

"It's a little something for my daughter." He smiled, wickedly.

"Well, yeah, but what is it exactly?" He asked.

He sighed, aggravated. "It is a serum that should make her three times as strong and powerful as she is now."

"Why are there six injection needles?"

"Do you always ask so many questions?"

"Sorry, but why?" Jeb glared at him.

"It's too strong to give it to her all at once, so I have to give it to her daily for six days."

"Oh. What happens if you don't give her all of it?"

"She dies."

**Hey guys! I know it a **_**really **_**short chapter, but I have to give you guys this because I have no clue as to when I will post the next chapter. But I will make the next chapter long, I promise!**

**Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing so far! Please review and tell me your thoughts! I really want to hear what you think of it!**

**~YAB**


	5. Bad News

**I don't own anything.**

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

_TLM – Chapter 4 – The Sighting_

**~ Fang POV ~**

I rolled over as the sun streamed in through my windows.

_Time to get up, _I thought.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes as I looked around at my room. I stood up and lazily walked downstairs to the kitchen. I opened the fridge, grabbed the milk, and walked to the cabinet to get out the Fruity Pebbles. As I poured my cereal, I couldn't help but think about boringly routine my life was.

Every day, I got up and did the same exact things. Eat, watch TV, eat some more, and hang out with my best friend, Iggy.

Iggy was…odd. There was never a dull moment with him around. He loves to build bombs and he is great at it, too. The only two people who know about his hobby are me and Iggy's girlfriend of six months, Ella. So, he never got in trouble for making things explode.

As I crunched down on the last bite of my breakfast, I felt really bored with myself. I need something interesting to occupy myself with. I know! I'll throw a party. Yeah. My parents wouldn't care; after all, they barely knew I existed.

See, my family is disgustingly rich and so, when I was 14, they bought me a mansion. Yes, a mansion. An $800,000 mansion. For my 14th birthday. Then, they left me here all alone and went off somewhere so that they would never have to see me again. They come to visit every year for my birthday and Christmas, but other than that, it was just me, my housekeeper, Maryanne.

After putting my bowl in the sink, I went upstairs and grabbed my phone. I texted everybody on my contacts list, which is pretty much my whole school.

_Party my place 2nite 8._

_~ Fang_

Almost instantly, people started to reply, but I was already heading towards the bathroom to get ready.

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

After my shower, I told Maryanne about the party so that she could start preparing.

Exactly at 8:00, the doorbell rang and Maryanne rushed to answer the door.

"Hey, man." Iggy said as he walked in.

"Hi, Fang!" Ella chirped, happily following behind Iggy.

"Hey." I nodded in return.

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

Soon, my house was packed so tightly with teenagers that you had to push and shove people out of the way so that you could walk through. Music was blasting throughout the house, a different song in each room, and there was food and drinks everywhere. People were talking, dancing, jumping all over the place, and couples were grinding. There was also quite a few who had brought their own drinks to the party and were currently under the effect of it.

I dug through the crowd to my kitchen, where I opened the fridge and grabbed a soda. I returned to the swarming crowd and found my girlfriend, Lissa** (A/N: Lissa is not a slut in this story, she is actually a decent person.)**, and started dancing with her.

"Hi, Fang!" She shouted over the noise.

"Hey!" I yelled back.

"I haven't seen you in so long! How is your summer?" She asked.

"It's been fine." I replied and she started up a conversation. This was the only thing I didn't like about Lissa. Sure, she was nice and all, but she was always awkward around me and only talked about the boring things that you only talk about with people you don't know very well. We had been dating for almost a year, but she still never really told me anything about herself. She always asked how I was doing and what I was doing, but never really dug for anything deep or tried very hard.

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

After a while, the whole house was practically bouncing. There was crap (not poo, just like food and drinks and stuff) and people everywhere. My rich neighbors probably hated my guts right now because of all the noise. I'm just glad nobody called the cops yet.

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

**~ Max POV ~**

Today was the day. We were going to get out of here. I was completely calm. Not freaking out at all. I don't freak out. Ever. I was just about to waltz back into the world I had been gone from for thirteen years, but that didn't scare me. Not one bit.

Okay, actually, I was completely terrified. Horrified. See, I haven't really been outside since I was locked up in here. Even my flying lessons took place in a big room with a field thingy in it. Plus, I had no idea how to live in the real world. Angel and Nudge would always talk about their old lives, but I had no idea what they were saying most of the time. The only memories I have are of my old house and my mom, but even that is really fuzzy.

So, yeah, it scared me. A lot. I was sort of scared into a daze and currently had no idea what was going on. Which is kinda _really _bad because if this is going to work, I have to be focused.

Okay, I'm going to focus now.

So, I guess while my mentality was blurry, I started walking to the cafeteria for breakfast. Angel and Nudge will be waiting for me, then, we will carry out the plan. I walked towards the big doors and hesitated, gripping the handle.

Deep breaths, Max, deep breaths. Whew. This was nerve wracking. Okay.

I pushed the door open as casually as I could manage and walked in. I rushed through the breakfast line and quickly sat down as Angel and Nudge beckoned me over to them.

I scarfed my meal down and tried not to think about what was about to happen. Finally, when I couldn't postpone it any longer, I said:

"You guys ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Angel said nervously.

"Yeah, I'm so excited to get out of here! I can't stay in this prison any longer!" Nudge exclaimed.

"Shhhhhh!" I scolded her. "Do you want everybody in this place to know?"

"Oh! Sorry Max, I'm just so nervous about everything! I mean, what if nothing works? What if when we get outside, we forget how to fly? Or walk? Or run? What if people kidnap us? Again? What if shmmk wonmn-" Angel slapped her hand over Nudge's mouth with a glare.

I took a deep breath. "Let's go."

We walked, inconspicuously, over to the Crazy Table. That's what we call the table where the most psychotic and insane people that are here sit. I don't know how the really bad cases of mental illnesses all wound up at the same breakfast table, but it happened.

This was probably the easiest part of the whole plan because it was so effortless to set these people off. Seriously. All you had to do was walk by on your way to throw out your trash and make eye contact and hold it for a little bit. Then, they would flip out and go nutty. Nobody would know it was us.

So, that's exactly what we did.

First, it was Emma. "OHAHOHAHOHAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! THEY'RE OUT TO GET ME! SAVE ME! HELP ME! THEY'VE COME BACK AND THEY WANT ME! SAVE ME! HELP ME!"

Immediately, security guards rushed to the commotion and hopelessly tried to calm her.

Next was Natasha. "!KOOOK!" She continued to yell like a siren and even more security came forward. Already, there was enough security guards away from their posts for our plan to work, but just to be sure, we passed by Shirley.

"THE WORLD IS ENDING! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! EVERYBODY TAKE COVER! THE LIVES WE LEAD WILL SOON COME TO AN END! AHHHHHHHHHH!"

After that, even the other patients were running around, trying to save themselves. Every last worker was in here trying to calm the mentally ill. I even saw my dad come in, which was completely, utterly perfect.

It was so chaotic in the room that if we weren't hell-bent on getting out, I would've stared and laughed.

We dashed out the doors and sprinted down the hallway to my dad's office. We got in and locked the doors. Then, Nudge worked on turning off all security precautions and cameras while Angel automatically locked all the doors, including the ones to the cafeteria, and I grabbed maps of the hospital and took all of Jeb's money from his wallet.

We rushed through that and were racing down the hallway in five minutes. If I had time to be proud of us, I would be.

We navigated our way to the back door where there was no doorman or manager and took off, literally. We were out!

It was so amazing to be flying! I felt as if I could do anything in the whole world right now! I was speechless _inside _my head.

"Wow." Nudge breathed, because, well, she always has _something _to say.

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

**~ Jeb POV ~**

What the heck had happened?

All of our patients had been running around, screaming and I had no idea why. No one did. After almost a half hour of trying to hold them down, it was finally back to normal. Well, as normal as a mental hospital can be. Then, when I was leaving, the doors were locked!

It was very stressful and the whole thing took almost an hour out of my work time. My day was off to a very bad start.

Then, just because the world hates me, my assistant, Terry, walked in.

"Mr. Batchelder, Sir?" She asked timidly.

"What, Terry?" I almost screamed at her.

"Umm, I'm afraid I have some bad news."

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

**Hey guys! I hope you liked it! Sorry it took me so long, but with school and everything, I haven't had much time to do much of anything besides my homework :( **

**Anyway, thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! I love to hear from you guys, so feel free to PM me about anything :)**

**Also, PLEASE review! I really want to know what you think of it and what you like/don't like. If you have ideas or comments or anything, review!**

**~Yabbers**

**P.S. I know the part when the crazies started flipping out was weird and stuff, but I didn't know how to make it seem real. So yeah. Sorry.**


	6. The Sighting

**I don't own anything.**

_TLM ~ Chapter 5 ~ The Sighting_

**~Max POV~**

"Whoa! It's so airy and big out here!" I exclaimed, flapping around awkwardly. "Is there normally so much space outside?"

"That's why it's here, Max." Angel told me.

"Yeah, but I never imagined it would be this….huge! I feel so free!" I looked around in awe.

"Ooooh! Look at all the little buildings down there!" I pointed towards what I guessed was the city.

"Yeah," Nudge looked at me strangely, "Ummm, anyway, speaking of those buildings, we should probably land down there and figure out what to do next."

"Okay, come on!" I said rushing downwards, excited to see what the world looked like from the ground. Wow, I'm really not myself right now.

Angel and Nudge followed me to the ground and we landed behind a tall building so that no one would see us. We walked out from behind it and onto the sidewalk. People were walking all over the sidewalk; there were so many of them!

And, there were lots of little doors with signs above them, lining the sidewalk. Were they like the rooms at the hospital? Why were people just walking in and out of them?

"It's so good to be back!" Nudge cried, getting a few stares. But I don't know why, people yelled crazy things all the time back at…..home, I guess. Plus, we had on what we were supposed to be wearing, sweatpants and T-shirts, but looking around, I saw that we were the only ones. Odd, I thought that it was the required day wear.

"Let's go shopping!" Angel suggested. "We can finally get back into normal clothes!"

_What else would we wear? _I thought.

"Yes! I haven't been into a store in FOREVER!" Nudge screamed to the street, earning some more glances.

"Quiet down, Nudge!" I told her. "What if people call the hospital and tell them where we are?"

"Relax, Max! There are always weird people on the street. No one does anything about it. Besides, no one knows who we are or where we came from, so just calm down!" She said.

She started towards one of the little doors that said **Hollister** and went in with me and Angel closely behind her. Instantly, she rushed over to a rack with shirts hanging from it.

The first thing I noticed about the place was how strongly it smelled. Uck.

"What is this place?" I asked, full of curiosity.

"It's a store, Max." Angel responded, implying that I should know what that means.

"What does it do?"

"They sell things, Max. This one sells clothes." She added.

"Oh." I said in a small voice.

"Look around! See if you like anything." Nudge urged.

I started looking at the clothes, but still didn't get why I would wear them. Couldn't I just wear what I had on?

In the end, we all bought some shirts and shorts, even though I was fine with what I had on. Then we went into another store and bought even MORE unnecessary clothes. After finally being done with clothes, we got some food, and that made me happy.

By then, it was almost dark out, so Nudge and Angel started discussing where we would stay.

"Why don't we go to a hotel? We can spend the night there, and in the morning, we can try to find a more permanent place to live. I don't think we can go back home. Mom will probably just send us back." Nudge said with a sad look on her face.

"No, they have security cameras." Angel replied, trying to avoid the subject of her mom.

"But I don't wanna sleep outside! That's gross!" Nudge whined.

"I'm not saying that we have to! All I'm saying is that three sixteen year old girls checking into a hotel and paying only with cash would be a little suspicious to me!"

"Guys!" I butted in, "Why don't we find an empty house that the owner of is on vacation or something, break in and sleep there?"

"Good idea, Max!" Nudge said.

"Yeah!" Angel agreed, "Let's start looking!"

We started walking down the sidewalk until we found a small and twisted road that led up to a neighborhood.

"Whoa! Those houses are huge!" Nudge said, amazed, "We must be in a rich person neighborhood or something!"

I looked around to see that she was right. Geez, these places were enormous. With the money to buy the smallest of these houses, I could get like 20,000,000 chocolate bars!

"That's a lot of chocolate, Max." Angel told me and Nudge looked confused.

"It was just a example, Ange – wait." I stopped walking. "I didn't say that out loud."

"Yeah you did, Max. I heard you clearly."

"I don't know what you guys are talking about, but Max didn't say anything until you did, Angel." Nudge said, warily.

We were all quiet for a minute, trying to process what was going on.

"So….What? I can read minds?" Angel asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Nudge responded slowly, "What am I thinking about right now?"

"How living in these mansions would make you feel like a princess?" Angel answered.

"Ok, that's creepy."

"Did the hospital do that to you?" I asked, a growing hatred inside of me.

"Well, I couldn't do this before. And it's giving me a huge headache! There's so much noise inside my head!" she screamed, holding her hands over her ears.

I felt really bad about it, but there was nothing I could do for her. Nudge looked the same way.

Angel resituated herself and took her hands off her ears. She still looked like she was mentally freaking out, though.

"Sorry, guys, this is really confusing and annoying. I wish it would stop!" She was almost crying, now and Nudge reached over and hugged her.

"Thanks, Nudge. Just give me a minute to make sense of it all." We waited while she concentrated.

"Ok, from what I can hear, none of these houses are on vacation." She told us.

"Really? That sucks! Now where are we gonna go?" Nudge asked, frustrated.

"Hold on, I'm not done yet!" She continued, "There is a house on the end of the block where it sounds like a party is going on. Now I know that sounds like the worst possible idea, but judging by their thoughts, they are around our age."

"So?" I asked. "How is that going to help us?"

"Well, you wouldn't know this, Max, but crazy things happen at teenage parties, and crazy people are there. We would fit right in!" Nudge informed.

"That still doesn't solve our sleeping problem!" I told them. What were they thinking?

"Ugh! Max! Please just listen to us for a second!" Nudge cried, being way overdramatic, if you ask me.

"At parties like that, there is usually drinking involved! People pass out! We would be completely under the radar if we slept there in an empty room!" Angel explained.

"What kind of drinks would make you pass out?" I asked, confused.

"Alcoholic ones!" Nudge practically screamed at me.

"Sorry!" I said, "I didn't know! Let's go check it out."

There was a lot of tension between us, but we sort of lapsed into a comfortable silence as we walked, following Angel as she led us to the house.

We got closer to the house, and I could already hear the music radiating off from the house. Oh great, just how I like my music, loud, obnoxious, and aggravating.

I saw lots of people that were probably the same way. There were so many of them, some going in and some leaving. We would probably never get noticed.

"Their thoughts are all so loud and confusing." Angel said as we walked towards the house.

"I'm sorry, Angel, at least you'll know if people are telling the truth or not." Nudge tried lightening the mood.

"Yippidy-doo-dah for me." She replied sarcastically. "But, thanks." She added, and we walked up the lawn to the front door.

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

**~Fang POV~**

The party was shaking the whole house, and as I walked around, it seemed that even more people had showed up. I was currently walking over to Iggy but decided to talk to him later, not wanting to interrupt his make out session with Ella.

I was on my way back to the kitchen to get another Mt. Dew, but as I passed by the front door, it opened and went straight into my face. I fell unconscious as heard a shout of

"Oh crap!" and a muttered "So much for staying under the radar."

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

**Hey guys! I am sooooo sorry for the long wait! I have been so busy lately and I've been feeling sorta crappy too so I promise to be better next time! **

**Thank you all so much for reading this! Please review and tell me what you think! Also, if there is anything you think should be different, please tell me and I will try to fix it.**

**Also, I am posting a story of just the characters from this story, but it's not like a story, it's just like their past and info about them and stuff. So, yeah. Sorry again about the delay!**

**~Yabebrs**


	7. Answers Maybe

**I don't own anything, it is all JP's.**

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

**TLM Chapter 6 ~ The Questions Without Answers**

**~Fang POV~**

I awoke to the sound of talking.

"Ugh! Is he ever going to wake up?" A feminine voice said.

"Well, this wouldn't be happening if you hadn't rammed the door into his face!" Another said back.

"I didn't mean to!" The first whined.

"Max! Angel! Stop fighting! I think he's waking up!" A third voice called.

I opened my eyes to see three eager faces staring back at me.

"Bah!" I jumped up, surprised by their closeness, and fell back down again.

"Careful," The blonde one warned, "You got hit pretty hard. You should take it easy."

"Who are you? And why are you at my house?" I looked out the window to see that it was pitch black outside. "How long was I out?" I added.

"Well, I'm Angel," She was the shortest of all of them and had blonde, curly hair, bright blue eyes, and pale skin. "This is Nudge," She pointed to the next girl. She was a few inches taller and had light brown skin, brown eyes, and fluffy, brown hair. "And this," she gestured towards the tallest one, "is Max." She was by far the most beautiful. Tan skin, blonde-ish, brown-ish hair, and gorgeous brown eyes.

"We came for the party last night; a friend of yours invited us." I was about to ask who, but she continued, "You've been unconscious since about eleven last night, and its one in the morning now, so like two hours.

I processed this for a second.

"What exactly happened?" I asked slowly.

This time, Max spoke, "We were coming to your party and I opened the door on your face and you got knocked out." She explained. She looked really tired.

"Were you waiting for me to wake up the whole time?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Nudge told me.

"Oh. Why? My housekeeper could've done that."

There was a pause.

"Well, we needed to ask you something." Angel spoke up.

"Ask away." I said, rubbing my head

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

**~Max POV~**

We all hesitated. Here goes nothing.

"We need a place to stay." I blurted out. He looked like he didn't really know what to say to that. I looked at him as he comprehended what was going on. He had olive skin and deep obsidian eyes **(Sorry, I know that's the way people always describe Fang, but I don't really want to change that.).** He was very tall, taller than me, and had thick, dark, black hair. He noticed me studying him, and I looked away, quickly.

"Oh. Well, umm I guess you can stay here if you want to. I'll go tell my housekeeper." He said, getting up and slowly walking out of the room.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you sooo much!" Nudge called after him. He didn't respond.

"So, umm, what do we do?" Angel asked.

"I guess we should go find a room or something." I told her. I didn't think it would too hard to find an empty room in a house this big.

We walked into the hallway. Mostly everyone had gone home, except for a few people who were either passed out or making out. I saw him, I guess we sorta forgot to ask what his name was, talking to a young woman whom I guessed was his housekeeper.

We walked up to them and they turned to look at us.

"Where can we stay?" Angel questioned.

"You can pick whatever room you want," He informed, "Just not the ones on the third floor, those are my rooms."

Rooms? Like with an 's'? How many rooms did this guy have, let alone _need_?

"Ummm, okay." I said slowly, then added, "Thanks again, we really appreciate this."

"No problem." He told us, and I could tell he really confused but too tired to ask questions.

We walked away and went looking for the stairs. After passing through what seemed like a hundred rooms, we finally found them.

"His thoughts are...interesting." Angel said as we climbed the steps. "He doesn't really know what to think of us, which is understandable, I guess."

"Well, three teenage girls walking into his house, knocking him out, and then asking to live with him for who knows how long would confuse me too." I said.

We got up to the second floor and started exploring the rooms.

_Holy crap! _I thought as we looked around, _How much money does this kid have?_

We counted at least _twenty-five _rooms just on the second floor! They each had flat screen TV's and strange boxes attached that Angel and Nudge referred to as Wee-wee's or something strange like that. The rooms were HUGE and had HUGE beds, much bigger than the ones back home. We chose a room that was about halfway through the hallway that seemed to have a blue color scheme.

"This is so awesome!" Nudge squealed and plopped down on the blue bed.

"I wish we could stay here forever!" Angel exclaimed and then yawned.

"Not to burst your bubble or anything, but it is getting late and we should probably get some sleep." I interrupted.

"Yeah, let's sleep. I'm exhausted from today, even though it was awesome! I'm so happy not to be in that awful place anymore! What are we gonna do now? I think we should go back to where we used to live, but not to our old house. Maybe to, like our old friends' houses or something. Yeah, we could stay there for a while, but I don't know what we should do after that. Anyway, it's not like we have to worry about that now, so goodnight you two!" Nudge babbled as she and Angel climbed into the giant bed. I chose the blue couch that was in front of the TV since I was claustrophobic and didn't want to share the bed.

I lay there, long into the night, with Nudge's words still lingering in my mind. She was right; I had no plan for what we were going to do after this. I didn't even know what we were going to do tomorrow.

I mean, it's great that we're out of the hospital, but we have no plans and no family that we can go to. I don't know who my mom is, let alone where she lives. Even if I could find her, what am I supposed to say?

"_Hi, I'm your daughter, you may or may not remember me, but your husband kidnapped me and turned me into a freak! Can my mutant friends and I intrude on life as you know it now and live with you for the rest of your life? _Yeah, that might work. On another planet.

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

I woke up feeling crappy, but I pushed it aside, blaming it on my nerves. My thoughts from last night still rung in my ears, but I silenced them and focused on the smell that wafted through the room. I had no idea what it was, but smelled like I had died and gone to heaven.

I stood up and groggily walked over to Angel and Nudge's bed to find that they weren't there anymore. Immediately, a feeling of dread washed through me and I sprinted out the door, accross the hallway, down the carpeted stairs, and into the kitchen where I ran into something hard.

I fell back and looked up again to see that it was the refrigerator door and Mystery Man was the one who was holding it.

"Are we always going to meet like this?" He asked, his eyes filled with amusement as he shut the fridge.

"Hey Max!" I heard Angel call from behind Mr. Anonymous and I walked past him. I saw her and Nudge sitting at the counter, happily chewing their breakfast **(I almost typed break farts! Haha oops.). **

They had platters if these little round bread thingies and long, rectangular pink-ish brown-ish stuff in front of them. I had never seen this stuff, before, but it smelled amazing. At the hospital, we only got mushy crap for breakfast.

"What is this stuff?" I asked.

"Pancakes and bacon," Nudge looked at me and saw my confused face. "Don't tell me you've never had them before, Max! Bacon is like, the god of breakfast. It's what all the other breakfast foods want to be when they grow up!"

"Umm, okay."

Mr. What's his name looked at us strangely, walking over to us.

"Oh yeah, Max, this is Fang." Angel told me. I looked up at "Fang" and he nodded at me. I realized he was kind of…hot. A blush rose to my cheeks and I looked back down at the food, curiously.

**~Fang POV~**

I watched Max as she picked up a piece of the bacon and slowly put it into her mouth. Wow, that sentence wasn't creepy at all. Anyway, her beautif- I mean, her face lit up instantly with delight and she grabbed another piece.

"This stuff is amazing!" She exclaimed in between bites.

These people were really, really weird. I knew nothing about them, except that one of them seemed a little, shall we say, awkward. Also, that they didn't have anywhere to go and apparently no parents. Well, I shouldn't say anything about that, because I didn't really have any either.

"So, who exactly are you?" I asked them.

They all looked at each other, not sure what to say. I waited for a minute, but they remained quiet.

"Ok, here's an easier one: where did you come from?"

They were still silent.

"Umm, where are your parents?"

Nothing. Jeez, these people were hard to crack.

"Anything?" I tried.

"We should be outta here by this afternoon. Thank you for everything you've done so far." Angel said blankly. Weird.

"Oh no, you're not getting off the hook that easy. I let you stay here, now you have to answer my questions. Where did you come from?" I asked, sternly.

"Umm, well I guess you could say that we came from my dad's house." Max offered. Angel and Nudge nodded, as if that was a good answer.

"And that would be where?"

"Not very far from here," Nudge said, "Only a little while away."

"Well, then why did you have to leave? And why can't you just stay there?" I questioned.

"It was really more of an escape. My dad is insane and should be locked up." Max told me. Angel and Nudge scoffed in agreement

"Yeah," Angel and Nudge agreed, then Nudge added, "For a loooong time."

"What about your mom?" I looked at Max. She shrugged.

"Don't know." I decided to drop the subject.

"What about you two?" I asked in Nudge and Angel's direction.

They looked at each other, hesitant to say something. Then, Nudge opened her mouth and said…

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

**Oooooh! Suspense! Well, actually, I just couldn't figure out what to have Nudge say, but same difference.**

**Again, thanks so much for reading this far! Please review and tell me what you think!**

**Also, a shout out to Rocketdog791 for helping me try to write better, I hope you liked this one!**

**And, sorry for it taking so long, sometimes my computer decides to randomly shut off while I'm writing and always right before I save :(**

**~Yabbers :)**


	8. The Short Version

**I don't own anything. :(**

TLM Chapter 7 ~ The Truth is Hard to Tell

**~Fang POV~**

She opened her mouth and said, well nothing really, she just kinda kept her mouth open.

_Really!? Am I ever going to learn anything?_

"I don't really know how to say this," She finally said "It's really, really complicated."

I sighed, pulling a chair over and sitting down at the table.

"Guys," Angel said, "We should tell him the truth, I think he can help us."

"Are you sure?" Max asked cautiously.

"Yeah, I checked him, he's fine."

_She _checked_ me? What the (insert swear word of your choice here) was she going on about now?_

"Ok then," Max said, looking at me, "but you're gonna think we're _insane._"

"Trust me," I said, rolling my eyes, just wanting to get to the point, "I can handle it."

"Well," Max began dramatically, "for me, it all started thirteen years ago, when I was a wee three years old. It was a quiet, dark summer night and I was asleep in my crib. Then, all of a sudden, my door burst open and-"

"Seriously, Max?" Nudge interrupted, "Are you really going to tell it like that? Just tell him what you told us."

She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, my dad came in. He told me we were going someplace "special" and that I needed to be quiet get dressed. He already had my suitcase packed and so we went outside and got into his car. He drove me to a big, white building. When we got inside, he started talking to a short man with a weird accent. Then he took me to a clean, white room with only a bed and a desk. He left me there and I've lived in that room ever since." She said as a distance glazed over in her eyes.

"Isn't it weird how well she can remember that? Like it was thirteen days ago instead of years." Angel commented quietly.

"So….?" I was still completely lost.

"Oh right." Max laughed without a trace of amusement in her voice. "Anyway, it turns out that the building my "daddy" brought me to was a hospital. A _mental institution._"

"Oh…...I still don't get it."

"He stole me from my family and brought me to an asylum. But, of course, this asylum is _nothing_ like your average crazy-house. See, Jeb, my father, is a scientist. But he and his other little scientist pals aren't like normal scientists. They like to umm...….hmmmm. How do I say this?" She asked herself.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, suddenly getting it. "Holy crap! They did that to you?!"

"What?! I didn't even say anything yet!" Max said.

"No! That's not what she was going to say! That never happened! No!" Angel answered quickly.

"What are you— oh! No! No no no!I didn't get raped! That's NOT what I meant!" Max said loudly as a rosy flush crept into her cheeks.

"Oh…" I laughed, nervously. All three of the girls were blushing hardly, clearly embarrassed.

_Way to lighten the mood, Fang._

Max cleared her throat. "Well, what I meant to say was that they had a knack for experimenting. On people. Illegally."

"They did all sorts of things to us," She looked down, but not before I saw the look of pain and anger in her eyes, "always poking their needles and knives around."

**~Max POV~**

I went on, sparing the wings part of the story and Fang watched me with his dark eyes until I was done, not saying a word. Creeper.

"So yeah. That's my life story." It was silent for a about three seconds.

"Our turn!" Nudge chirped, though with a story like ours, I can't imagine why she would be so happy to share. I guess that's just Nudge for you.

"But don't worry, it's not NEARLY as long as Max's," She began, earning herself a glare, "So, a few months back, Jeb, Max's dad, came to our door. My mom answered it as if she had been expecting him, which was bizarre because I had never seen him before and my mom had never said anything about company or anyone coming over."

She rambled on for a while about getting to the asylum and I think I even heard something about coming to a close.

"And then we met Max and she was like "HI!" and we were like "Hi!" and then we became friends and then yesterday we escaped and now we're here talking to you!"

Fang scanned his brain for a response, obviously not sure how to reply, which was understandable, it was a lot to take in. He didn't even know if we were telling the truth. By now, I wouldn't be surprised if he thought we actually _did_ belong in mental hospital.


	9. It's a Small World, After All

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, sadly. It's all JP.**

_TLM ~ Chapter 9 ~ _

**~Fang POV~**

_What? Totally not what I was expecting..._

"Um, cool." _Is that really what I said about it? Jeez… _"So anyway," I tried to change the subject, "my friends, Iggy and Ella, were planning on coming over today, before I knew you guys'd be here, so -"

"Oh we don't mind at all!" Nudge talked for her friends, not letting me finish, "I love meeting new people! Are they nice? They sound cool! Where did Ikky get a name like that? Whempphmm-" Angel slapped her hand over Nudge's lips.

"Lick me all you want!" She cried in triumph, "I'm not letting go!"

Ignoring that and shrugging, I said, "Umm, _Iggy_, picked his own name, don't ask why. He had it when I met him…But yeah, they'll be here in a couple hours. Do you guys have any clothes or something you need to change into? You can use the showers."

Nudge mumbled behind Angel's hand and Max's eyes lit up. "A shower sounds fantastic!" She pushed away her empty plate of food and turned to go upstairs. "And again, thank you so much for everything you've done for us."

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

**~Max POV~**

There was a loud knock on Fang's huge, fancy door. Nudge, Angel, and I watched from the kitchen, snacking on some crackers, while Fang walked over to the door. The butler beat him there to answer it, although I couldn't tell you why he needed someone to do that for him, it's not very hard. He opened it slowly and dramatically. I'd imagine that would get very boring after a while.

Two people, a girl whom I assumed to be Ella and a boy whom I assumed to be Iggy, walked in casually.

"Hey, Fang!" The boy greeted. He was tall and lanky, very pale, and had reddish hair. Fang just nodded, the man of many words.

"Hi, Fang!" The girl echoed. I had to do a double take when I saw her, but I couldn't figure out why she puzzled me. She had dark black hair and tan skin, but I just couldn't place her familiarity; all the people I knew were wacky old nut bars.

I think she felt my eyes on her because she turned around and saw us, smiling warmly, but confusion clouded her soft eyes.

"Oh, hello!" She said, "I'm Ella, Fang's friend, and this is Iggy." She said, pointing to the blonde one.

"Oh yeah," Fang jumped in, leading his friends over to us, "guys, this is Max, Nudge, and Angel. They're staying with me for a little bit. And," he turned to us and pointed out his friends, "this is Ella, and this is Iggy."

"HI!" Of course Nudge started first, although I certainly didn't want to start, so I had no problem with it, "My name's Nudge! I'm 15! OMG Ella, your hair is like, so gorgeous, oh, and I just absolutely adore your outfit! I can tell already, we're going to be great fre-mphahasdmg-" Angel's hand saved their ears. Nudge didn't have any allowed time to say hi to Iggy, so she waved at him and he waved back with a goofy enthusiasm.

"Well hi, Nudge! I'm 15, as well. Thank you and thanks! I love yours too! And I hope so!" Ella responded to every sentence Nudge said; she seemed nice, but I still couldn't place her and it was really ticking me off.

Angel, Ella, Iggy, and I exchanged greetings while Fang and Nudge stayed pretty quiet, as long as you don't count Nudge's constant protesting and moans against Angel.

Iggy started munching on some of Fang's crackers while we discussed plans for the day; Ella, Nudge, and Angel wanted to go to the park, Iggy wanted to watch a movie, and Fang and I didn't really care. We decided on both - movie, then park. I've never been to a park before… or really ever watched a movie either, for that matter.

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

I don't really know what the movie we watched was called, something about food, but all I know was that it involved a lot of intense fighting, which I really liked, and some intense kissing, which wasn't as fun to watch.

**~Fang POV~**

The Hunger Games was really amusing to watch, or rather to watch other people watch, if that made sense, because I don't think Max had ever seen it before. She couldn't figure out who was good and who was bad, and cheered really loudly every time there was a fight seen, no matter who won.

Anyway, we were on the way to the park, walking down the sidewalk when a young couple walked by, a dog on the leash in the girl's hands.

**~Max POV~**

When we were strolling towards the park, a cute little puppy walked by, his ears flopping. I started to think about the time when I lived with my mom, dad, and little sister, when our family was whole and life was good.

We had a little puppy, too. He was a German shepherd and only a few months old when my dad stole me away. My little sister and I used to chase him around the house on our stubby little legs, laughing and smiling without a single care.

I suddenly came to a realization that made my feet stop, causing Nudge to run into me.

"Are you ok, Max? You look a little weird.." Nudge asked me.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine, sorry!" I laughed it off, hoping not to sound too fake.

I knew Nudge bought it when her conversation resumed behind me.

My little sister and I used to chase our puppy around the house on our little stubby legs.

My little sister and I.

My little sister, Ella, one year younger than me, the baby version of my mom.

The Ella right behind me.

_**~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~**_

**Ok, I Don't even know how to begin to apologize! I am so so so sorry!**

**I am just so not on top of things, and don't even have a good excuse):**

**Anyways, I hope you like it, I wrote it pretty fast, and I just want to say I love all of you guys so much for coming back to read this story 333**

**Also a shout out to Jaclyn F, and everyone else who continued to remind me to get off my butt and do something, you guys made me very happy(: **

**~YoungAndBored**


	10. Bad Things

**Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine): All character credit goes to our good man, Mr. Patterson(:**

_~ TLM ~ Chapter 10 ~ Why do bad things happen to pretty okay people?_

**~Max POV~**

_Holy crap. _This girl is my sister. I don't even know what to think about that; I had never given much thought to getting back in touch with my mom and sister. I mean, what if they hated me or thought I was a freak or _wanted _my dad to take me away? I just never even thought the opportunity would arise.

I looked over at Angel, who was next to me. Her clear, blue eyes were enormous and I think they were trying to tell me something, but I wasn't going to decipher her message. I needed time to think.

As soon as we got to the park, I mumbled something about the bathroom and went to hunt it down, hoping nobody followed. Of course, Angel did.

"Max!" She whisper-screamed at me when we were far enough away from the others. "She's your sister!"

"I know!"

"Then tell her!

"No!"

"Dammit, Max! Why the heck not?"

"Well what am I supposed to say?! _Hey, I'm your sister! I don't know if you remember me or Daddio, but he locked me up and made me special! Anyways, we're related, so you have to be nice to me and let rejoin the world that I don't even know."_

"Max, what other chance do we have? She's our only connection! As far as the government is concerned, we are all legally insane and should be locked up."

"We'll find something else to do! We can-"

Ella walked in. "Are you guys ok? It sounded like you were arguing." She sounded genuinely concerned.

"Yeah we're good! Thanks, though," Angel told her with a warm smile.

Of course, she's nice. Now Angel will find something creepy to do with my mind and make me tell Ella, because she _trustworthy_. Yeah, well, I've had my share of experiences with the _trustworthy_ of the world; I mean, Ella, came from my, sorry, _our_ dad.

Angel gave me a look and whispered, "So did you."

_~XXXXXXOXXXXXX~_

The park was really peaceful. Even with all the laughing kids running around, it was a good first experience. I was plopped on the swing for most our outdoor adventure and it gave me lots of time to think.

Most of the day was gone already and I still had no plan of what we were going to do or where we were going to stay. There was no way I was going to Ella's house, it didn't belong to me anymore, so I guess we could probably stay at Fang's again, but then what? What happens when his parents come home? Or when Jeb starts sending out search parties? He was definitely motivated enough if he was willing to steal his own kid.

I was making my way over to Fang to ask him about it when Angel entered my field of vision, pulling Ella behind her. They were coming in my direction so I thought all the mean things I could come up with in Angel's direction, dreading whatever conversation she was bringing to me.

"Hey, Max!" Ella called once she and Angel and I were within hearing range of each other.

"Oh, hi, Ella." I could see Fang behind Angel's shoulder laughing with Nudge at something Iggy was saying and I thought about just screaming my question at him before Ella could say anything else. I know Angel must have told her something. That little devil.

"So, Angel told me you guys need a place to sleep?"

"Oh, did she?" _I'm gonna kill that girl._ Angel smiled at me.

"Yeah! And so I was just thinkin', what if you guys came over to my house?"

"Oh, why that is mighty kind of you, Ella, but we really wouldn't want to burden you with anything. Besides, all of our stuff is already at Fang's house and I bet he wouldn't mind if we stayed another night with him."

"But it would be so fun! Like a girls' night out sleepover or something! Please!" 

"Hear that, Max!" Angel piped in with a glint in her eye. The nerve. "Oh it's been forever since I've been to a sleepover!"

"See?" Ella pleaded, "Angel wants to, and I bet Nudge wants to too! It wouldn't be a burden at all! I just wanna help you guys out!"

Ugggh, why did she have to be so nice? I was all out of excuses and sighed, trying to think of another way to turn her down. She must have taken that for a yes because she started squealing a little and jumped up and down with Angel.

"Wait -" I tried, but they were already dancing away to Nudge. There was no stopping this now.


End file.
